1. Drinks and Their Symbols in Hills Like White Elephants
Li Xuan
May 22rd 2012

2. Questions:
What are the drinks?
What did they say about the drinks?
What are the symbols of the drinks and drinks words?

3. 'Let's drink beer. ' 'Dos cervezas,' the man said into the curtain
'Let's drink beer. ' 'Dos cervezas,' the man said into the curtain. 'Big ones?' a woman asked from the doorway. 'Yes. Two big ones.'
Beer:
a very common low alcohol;
popular with people.
Symbol:
their common life with no passion;
they live a life of milk and water.

4. 'Anis del Toro. It's a drink. ' 'Could we try it
'Anis del Toro. It's a drink.' 'Could we try it?' 'We want two Anis del Toro.' 'I wanted to try this new drink. That's all we do, isn't it- look at things and try new drinks?' 'I guess so.'
Anis del Toro:
a kind of anisette(茴香酒）;
higher alcohol content than beer.
Symbol:
different life from before ;
more passion and exciting in daily life;
the life with the baby .

5. 'It tastes like licorice,' the girl said and put the glass down
  'It tastes like licorice,' the girl said and put the glass down.   'That's the way with everything.'   'Yes,' said the girl. 'Everything tastes of licorice. Especially all the things you've waited so long for, like absinthe.'    'Oh, cut it out.'
Absinthe:
much higher alcohol content than anisette;
very hard to get;
substituted by anisette
Symbol
the unborn baby ;
future life the girl wanted

6. After the World War I, the United States
formally promulgated the prohibition law. As
absinthe is a kind of very hard liquor, it was
marked with a tag of “the root of all evil".
Because the anisette is similar with absinthe in brewing method and raw materials, its alcohol content is much lower than absinthe, So the anisette became a substitute for absinthe during the period of prohibition.
Objectively:
really hard to get the absinthe.
Subjectively:
show her attitude to the man that she wanted to try different life.

7. 'Should we have another drink?' 'All right.'
'The beer's nice and cool,' the man said.    'It's lovely,' the girl said.
The woman came out through the curtains with two glasses of beer and put them down on the damp felt pads.
Truth
The girl finally had no chance to drink the anisette .
Symbol
The girl can’t get the life she wanted to try;
Doing the abortion substantially is a foreordination to the girl.

8. He drank an Anis at the bar.
‘Then come back and we’ll finish the beer.’
Symbol:
The girl finally made up her mind to go on her beer-like life with the man.
The man may also had the impulse to change current life, but there seems something behind it.

9. Thank You!